A BILL to amend and reenact §61-7-6 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to permitting magistrates to carry
concealed handguns without a permit.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §61-7-6 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 7. DANGEROUS WEAPONS.

§61-7-6. Exceptions as to prohibitions against carrying concealed
deadly weapons.

The licensure provisions set forth in this article do not
apply to:

(1) Any person carrying a deadly weapon upon his or her own
premises; nor shall anything herein prevent a person from carrying
any firearm, unloaded, from the place of purchase to his or her
home, residence or place of business or to a place of repair and
back to his or her home, residence or place of business, nor shall
anything herein prohibit a person from possessing a firearm while
hunting in a lawful manner or while traveling from his or her home,
residence or place of business to a hunting site and returning to
his or her home, residence or place of business;

(2) Any person who is a member of a properly organized target-shooting club authorized by law to obtain firearms by purchase or
requisition from this state or from the United States for the
purpose of target practice from carrying any pistol, as defined in
this article, unloaded, from his or her home, residence or place of
business to a place of target practice and from any place of target
practice back to his or her home, residence or place of business,
for using any such weapon at a place of target practice in training
and improving his or her skill in the use of the weapons;

(3) Any law-enforcement officer or law-enforcement official as
defined in section one, article twenty-nine of chapter thirty;

(4) Any employee of the West Virginia Division of Corrections
duly appointed pursuant to the provisions of section five, article
five of chapter twenty-eight while the employee is on duty;

(5) Any member of the Armed Forces of the United States or the
militia of this state while the member is on duty;

(6) Any circuit judge, including any retired circuit judge
designated senior status by the Supreme Court of Appeals of West
Virginia, magistrate, prosecuting attorney, assistant prosecuting
attorney or a duly appointed investigator employed by a prosecuting
attorney;

(7) Any resident of another state who holds a valid license to
carry a concealed weapon by a state or a political subdivision
which has entered into a reciprocity agreement with this state,
subject to the provisions and limitations set forth in section six-a of this article;

(8) Any federal law-enforcement officer or federal police
officer authorized to carry a weapon in the performance of the
officer’s duty; and

(9) Any Hatfield-McCoy regional recreation authority ranger
while the ranger is on duty.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit magistrates to
carry concealed handguns without a permit.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.